310 - "Somebody to Love"

Comments

And so we come to the last season finale (possibly series finale?) of the week following AG and BCS. Who will when the final week? Fargo has some tough competition this time. Ps. @A_Ron_HubbardFor the final who won the week pod, if you have some free time it might be worthwhile to rank the various Season 3's of BCS, Fargo, and the Leftovers to determine who won the season, although #1 spot is pretty obvious so might just end up debating BCS and Fargo for #2.

Varga just keeps getting more goons. He started out with two now he has enough to cover Emmitt's entire property. I love the guy in the back trying to come in with a pool cue to back up the guys with guns.

In the end, season 3 was the useless machine. That was a nonsensical finale and felt like a first draft on the script level. Like we need the car to break down for the Wango shootout, then the car works fine. Or Emmit will get the drop on Meemo and then he's knocked out. Or Varga taking every man to the drop. While we're at it, let's drop the technology thread, pretty much drop Winnie, never mention the machine and then try to make an ambiguous ending. Speaking of which, I hope Andrew Niccol got a writing credit because they ripped off his speech from Lord of War.

Props for continuing to make Gloria unlikable. Flashing lights and pulling over a bus for an overwrought popsicle scene... I feel like Noah was trolling me. All I can say is adios Gloria and your weird ass kid, who's apparently 19 and still going to the fair with you 5 years later.

I think this is the weakest entry so far and leaves me wondering if they can handle a 4th season, which isn't guaranteed. If I can shout into the void and reach Hawley, let's make the protagonist likeable next time and maybe let's go to the desert, which is well established in the Coen-verse.

I dunno, I like Gloria and think that Carrie coon did a great job. As far as the coincidences they have always been there.

For me, while the ending was vague, it was good (not great). Overall this was still one of my favorite seasons of Fargo. They wrapped up almost every single storyline, with what seems like "plausible" for the story endings. Are things out there? Sure, but then again this is an homage to Coens who ARE out there quirky/weird. Gloria finally moving on from the police department was kind of big, she seems to be much happier (especially the little smile she had at the end). Varga continued to be the man in the darkeness who is running from everything and nothing. Emit meets a tragic end, but Mr Wrench had a debt to pay and finished the job.

If this is the end then Ineill be sad, but happy about the 3 seasons of very good to great TV I got.

The car breaking down wasn't coincidence, it was orchestrated by Nikki - the tip off is the stamp on Emmitt's forehead when he wakes up. She went to his house to sabotage the car, saw him knocked out and put the stamp on his head (there'd be no reason for Varga to do it, the stamp didn't mean anything to him).

I thought the finale was great, Varga and Gloria facing off against each other each as certain of the other that they were right.

@CretanBull I don't know if you're talking about my post, but I understand all that. What I don't understand is the car dieing, then starting again. Nikki did "something" so the car would die and she'd get revenge. Emmit survived it and now he needs to get out. Shit, can't take the truck because his car would be left at the crime scene. Well, let's have him drive away in his dead car, cross dissolve 6 times, and maybe nobody will notice. That's not Coen-verse coincidence, that's just bad. Like if Chigurh got back in his car and drove off at the end of NCFOM. I just saw your car was incapacitated dude!

@KingKobraNo, but if they can have a Cali episode just to check off Barton Fink references, then they can come up with some kind of cross-state crime. Texas bank robbers seek refuge in the heart of North Dakota, where a young deputy is suspicious about the new smooth talking residents. Done. Do it Hawley. And over half of the Coen's films take place in Califronia or somewhere classified as West, so there's that.....

@CretanBull I don't know if you're talking about my post, but I understand all that. What I don't understand is the car dieing, then starting again. Nikki did "something" so the car would die and she'd get revenge. Emmit survived it and now he needs to get out. Shit, can't take the truck because his car would be left at the crime scene. Well, let's have him drive away in his dead car, cross dissolve 6 times, and maybe nobody will notice. That's not Coen-verse coincidence, that's just bad. Like if Chigurh got back in his car and drove off at the end of NCFOM. I just saw your car was incapacitated dude!

I don't think that it was a mistake or an attempt to pull one over on the audience hoping they wouldn't notice. Know what happens during one of those cross fades? Emmitt figures out what Nikki did to the car and fixes it. Given that we know that the car breaks down and we see him drive away, and in between there's a fast-forwarding in time, the inference is clear. Just like they didn't need to show Nikki sabotaging the car, they didn't need to show Emmitt figuring out what was wrong with it - both are pretty clearly implied.

@CretanBull Nah, buddy. I've got it in front of me. Cross dissolves do tend to denote time changes, but that's not how they're used here. For example, Emmit opens the door in wide angle, cross dissolve, closes the door in medium angle. That's not a passage of time, that's continuous action. I'm 99% sure it's the same scene from a B angle. They're not suggesting he opens the door - hours later - closes the door. @hypergenesb should chime in as well.

Emmit checks himself and then looks in Nikki's direction. Fade to Nikki headshot. Again, that's not meant to be 4 hours later looking at Niki, that's real time. From Nikki headshot, Emmit reacts stunned and jumps in his car, cranks immediately, then leaves. THEN the cross dissolves do suggest a major time difference.

So what you're describing isn't really there, for such a declarative view on it. I can't even grant you that maybe the hood was up in one of the cross dissolves. From the moment Emmit checks himself, it's playing in essentially real time. At least that's how I interpreted the editing with a film degree and background, but I'm glad you're putting that together based off how they compiled it. In your version, what was the car problem lol?

@CretanBull Nah, buddy. I've got it in front of me. Cross dissolves do tend to denote time changes, but that's not how they're used here. For example, Emmit opens the door in wide angle, cross dissolve, closes the door in medium angle. That's not a passage of time, that's continuous action. I'm 99% sure it's the same scene from a B angle. They're not suggesting he opens the door - hours later - closes the door. @hypergenesb should chime in as well.

Emmit checks himself and then looks in Nikki's direction. Fade to Nikki headshot. Again, that's not meant to be 4 hours later looking at Niki, that's real time. From Nikki headshot, Emmit reacts stunned and jumps in his car, cranks immediately, then leaves. THEN the cross dissolves do suggest a major time difference.

So what you're describing isn't really there, for such a declarative view on it. I can't even grant you that maybe the hood was up in one of the cross dissolves. From the moment Emmit checks himself, it's playing in essentially real time. At least that's how I interpreted the editing with a film degree and background, but I'm glad you're putting that together based off how they compiled it. In your version, what was the car problem lol?

I think that you're putting WAY too much thought into something that is entirely insignificant. We have two choices, they either tried to pull a fast one or had faith enough in the audience to piece things together. Given that the scene that set this one up came from a position of trusting the audience, that's the option I'm going with.

Oh yeah, it's not a big deal and it's not even about the show. If there's one thing I cannot abide it's the "oh this was so obvious" routine. People did that in The Leftovers too and it blew up in their face. I wanted to see how obvious it really was and what I must have missed. But the obvious never is and one man's jump to conclusions is another man's dubious editing. C'est la vie.

Although there were elements of this season I reallly liked, overall I found it a bit meh. The main story of the business takeover was lacklustre, and I really found it hard to watch the increasingly disgusting Varga.

@CretanBull I don't know if you're talking about my post, but I understand all that. What I don't understand is the car dieing, then starting again. Nikki did "something" so the car would die and she'd get revenge. Emmit survived it and now he needs to get out. Shit, can't take the truck because his car would be left at the crime scene. Well, let's have him drive away in his dead car, cross dissolve 6 times, and maybe nobody will notice. That's not Coen-verse coincidence, that's just bad. Like if Chigurh got back in his car and drove off at the end of NCFOM. I just saw your car was incapacitated dude!

@KingKobraNo, but if they can have a Cali episode just to check off Barton Fink references, then they can come up with some kind of cross-state crime. Texas bank robbers seek refuge in the heart of North Dakota, where a young deputy is suspicious about the new smooth talking residents. Done. Do it Hawley. And over half of the Coen's films take place in Califronia or somewhere classified as West, so there's that.....

Then it wouldn't be Fargo, it would be some other show....the only way I see them doing desert is if it was a "trip" episode (ala Gloria this year). Otherwise they have stayed in the ND area and will continue to do so (IMO).

My grasp at a theory... maybe Wrench killed Emmett so that Gloria would have a reason to investigate Varga after BHS flagged him. Maybe Wrench knew Varga was the true evil (Nikki got that wrong, which is why she couldn't remember the words she was meant to recite) and that's why he waited 5 years.

Otherwise waiting 5 years makes no sense.

Three things I loved about this season:1. "I can help!"2. Peter and the Wolf3. Supernatural bowling alley

I can't find much of those elements in the finale. Yet. It's a shame, because I was all ready to announce S3 as my favorite.

Oh yeah, it's not a big deal and it's not even about the show. If there's one thing I cannot abide it's the "oh this was so obvious" routine.

Not saying that it was obvious, I was surprised too. I even thought the car dying was coincidence. In hindsight it makes sense to me. The stamp shows that Nikki's trap is laid out. Emmit's engine dies in an area without cell phone reception, which makes it seem deliberate. Nikki must have had a kill-switch to shut down the engine. If he had tried to get it running again she would have shut down the engine once more.

Mostly unsatisfied with the finale. Way too many loose ends and questions for my taste:

Why did Nikki send the info to the IRS if she was just planning on killing Varga and Emmit? The IRS angle seemed to only serve as a plot device to get Gloria back on the case. Ultimately it went nowhere if your CYOA ending had Varga's guy coming in. Could have served to bring down President Roslin but nothing happened to her apparently.

Of all the preplanning and scouting she did, why did Nikki choose a storage facility with some sweet hi-res CC tv cameras, or if said cameras were in place and you're planning an ambush, why were they not disabled?

The Ol' escape through the top of the elevator trick huh? You know we know elevators don't have access panels on the ceiling, right? Can we lose this tired troupe please? Even if it did exist, where does Varga pick up his sweet American Ninja Warrior skills in order to shimmy himself up an elevator shaft in 15 seconds?

It's been talked about above but I'm with the people who see Emmit driving away in the car that initially broke down to be a plot hole. Also, can't the Minnesota state troopers get together and lobby for some better uniforms? Woof, those rust brown polyester jobs are quite the eyesore.

How much shit must Gloria's kid get when his mom pulls the bus over lights and sirens to talk to him? Where does she keep the popcicles? She got some dc powered freezer in the cruiser?

Of all the things I actually wanted to see happen in the finale, the one I was hoping most for was to see Chief Mo eat crow and possibly fired for being the most obtuse (What did you call me?!) asshole ever to set foot on a tv series.

I'm sure I'm missing the point, but can someone explain how the opening scene of the season ties in with the rest of it? I see it as a complete non sequitur.

Why did Nikki send the info to the IRS if she was just planning on killing Varga and Emmit? The IRS angle seemed to only serve as a plot device to get Gloria back on the case. Ultimately it went nowhere if your CYOA ending had Varga's guy coming in. Could have served to bring down President Roslin but nothing happened to her apparently.

We don’t know what her plans were for Varga, but it’s doubtful that her plan was to kill him. Her plan was to separate Varga from the rest of his pack, if she wanted to kill him she probably would have let Wrench do it upstairs. Given that the IRS was involved, it would seem like her plan was to turn him over…taking him down being more satisfying than killing him.

Of all the preplanning and scouting she did, why did Nikki choose a storage facility with some sweet hi-res CC tv cameras, or if said cameras were in place and you're planning an ambush, why were they not disabled?

She choose that place for the precise reason we saw play out in the episode. Nikki and Wrench are already fugitives on the run regardless, having themselves photographed doesn’t change anything for either of them – but getting an image of Varga (along with the IRS involvement) gives them a failsafe for bringing down Varga.

The Ol' escape through the top of the elevator trick huh? You know we know elevators don't have access panels on the ceiling, right? Can we lose this tired troupe please? Even if it did exist, where does Varga pick up his sweet American Ninja Warrior skills in order to shimmy himself up an elevator shaft in 15 seconds?

If tv/movie tropes are a reason to criticize something, it’s probably time to stop watching tv and movies. I think we can guess that Varga has gotten himself out of tricky situations before…it’s amazing how quickly you can act when all of your friends just got wiped out and you think that you’re 15 seconds away from being next.

It's been talked about above but I'm with the people who see Emmit driving away in the car that initially broke down to be a plot hole. Also, can't the Minnesota state troopers get together and lobby for some better uniforms? Woof, those rust brown polyester jobs are quite the eyesore.

If you’d rather believe that a room full of writers created a scene based on a car breaking down suddenly forgot that the car broke down and no one at any stage of development noticed rather than accept one of the explanations provided or the simple idea that it was left to viewer to piece together just like the scene that set it up was I think that you’re looking for things to grip about. Next thing you know you’ll be critical of the colour of the State trooper’s uniforms

How much shit must Gloria's kid get when his mom pulls the bus over lights and sirens to talk to him? Where does she keep the popcicles? She got some dc powered freezer in the cruiser?

Minnesota in the fall/winter (there was no snow on the ground, but they were all wearing cold weather clothes) - no freezer needed.

Of all the things I actually wanted to see happen in the finale, the one I was hoping most for was to see Chief Mo eat crow and possibly fired for being the most obtuse (What did you call me?!) asshole ever to set foot on a tv series.

Given now much they needed to get to, a scene like this might have satisfied you but would have distracted from the momentum of the episode. The comeuppance is pretty clear nonetheless, she was marginalized and brushed aside in her local department but wound up working for Homeland Security – showing that their judgement of her was wrong.

I'm sure I'm missing the point, but can someone explain how the opening scene of the season ties in with the rest of it? I see it as a complete non sequitur.

It did two things. First it established one of the main themes of the series (duality, mistaken identity) and then in light of the final scene (which mirrored the first scene of the series) it foreshadowed Varga’s position – truth isn’t absolute, it is what we agree it is (“But which of us can say with certainty what has occurred — actually occurred — and what is simply rumor, misinformation, opinion?”). In the episode 1 scene, the accused is relying on fact (he was born in a different place, he was married, he was a different nationality etc) but the interrogator is brushing those facts aside as if they don’t matter. In the final episode, Gloria (the interrogator) is laying out facts and the accused is brushing them aside as if they don’t matter. Then we’re left to decide which side we want to be on. Consider the current political climate with Trump etc. this scene is a powerful piece of social commentary.

@GuyUnless you believe Yuri is, somehow, the same Yuri from 1988, then there's no literal connection between the opening scene and the rest of the season. It's filled with thematic connections to what comes after, though. Not only are there many references to Russia in this season, it also fits in perfectly with this season's themes of stories, misinformation, mistaken identity, and what is and isn't reality. Look at the way that "true" is the first word to fade out in the "this is a true story" in the intros. Or the three stories that Varga tells at the beginning of one episode, the last of which (the faked moon landing) is clearly untrue, yet he insists it isn't. Varga argues that if you have the resources to change the official perception of events, then that new version of events is for all intents and purposes what really happened. All of this is leading up to that fantastic final scene (the best ending to any Fargo season by a long shot, as far as I'm concerned) where Gloria and Varga each lay out their own version of the immediate future, with the episode ending before you find out who was right, leaving the audience to decide, to choose between an optimistic or pessimistic view of the world. It's a clear bookend to the opening scene in 1988, and it instantly made clearer a lot of what they were going for thematically this season in retrospect. I laughed out loud when the camera started panning over to the clock, because I realized what they were about to do and loved it.

I can't argue with you on the rest of your points - most of them are subjective - but I wanted to at least explain that last one, and to try and get at what made this episode so satisfying for me. I still think this was probably the weakest season of Fargo, but like I said, it had my favourite ending, and it was the most thematically rich and interesting of the three seasons.